Think of the reddest red in the world. A Canadian Mountie's jacket? The stripes in Old Glory? A cherry popsicle or maybe a come-hither red lipstick? Whichever you choose, the source of their deep, regal red is the same, and it can be found in just about any Arizona backyard.

Take a close look at a prickly pear cactus, and you're likely to see a white fuzz clustered all over the pad. It might look like a mold or fungus, but it's actually hiding its creator, the cochineal (pronounced coach-in-EEL) scale, a tiny insect that's made a big contribution to fashion, manufacturing and trade for hundreds of years. The female cochineal is chock full of bitter carminic acid, a big turn-off to her predators, but a fabulous source of red dye for textiles, cosmetics and food products.  

The females find a cactus pad, plug their proboscis into the pad and slurp away, emitting the white waxy substance from glands on their back to protect themselves. Once ensconced, they never move from this spot for the rest of their lives, which can last up to three years. The males, on the other hand, live about a week, and exist solely to mate with as many females as they can find. It is literally their only mission in life; they don't even feed, lacking mouth parts to do the job.

The dye is obtained by harvesting the females, drying and then crushing the bodies. The resulting "carmine" is generally blended with a metallic compound to give it the ability to fix permanently to fibers. Using contemporary techniques, it takes about 70,000 insects to make one pound of commercial dye.

The first people to discover the decorative potential of the cochineal scale were the indigenous people of Mexico. When Hernan Cortez arrived there from Spain in the early 16th century and got a look at the dazzling hues sported by the Aztecs, more vivid than anything anyone had seen in Europe, he knew it would go over big back home. He sent back a bag of what he assumed were seed pods, and the source of the dye. When it was discovered that this grana (grain) was actually dried up bugs, it did nothing to dampen Europe's enthusiasm for the vibrant dye it produced, and thus launched a major industry, controlled by Spain. In fact, dye from the cochineal was the second biggest export from colonial Mexico after silver.